Brownies

What better way to bring in a new year than with friends and family – which is why I decided the first post of 2018 would be featuring an old baking friend, the brownie. This easy recipe from King Arthur Flour not only tastes great, but the smell coming from your oven is sure to transport you back to your childhood. I can’t tell you how many bake sales, potlucks, and parties this dessert was present for when I was growing up!

Alright, if you’re interested in an oldie but a goodie, let’s roll up those sleeves and get to baking! We’ll start out, as always, with the recipe from my King Arthur Flour Baker’s Companion:

Stir the flour into the chocolate and butter mixture. Fold the chocolate batter into the egg mixture, stirring to combine. Stir in optional ingredients, if using.

Spread the batter in the pan. For an extra-glossy top, brush with 1 tablespoon milk. Bake the brownies for 35 minutes; the top should be crisp, but a toothpick inserted in the center will come out coated with chocolate. Remove the brownies from the oven, and let them cool for several hours before cutting into squares.

No wonder these delicious treats are a favorite – they’re so easy to make! Here’s how I was able to do it:

After measuring all the ingredients out, I put the chocolate and butter into my saucepan and turned on my stove to low heat.

I then stirred it until they had melted together (which took about 5 minutes or so).

I then set the saucepan aside to cool off a bit. Next, I took the eggs, vanilla, sugar, corn syrup, and salt and threw them into the bowl of my Kitchen-Aid mixer.

Using the whisk attachment, I beat the ingredients on medium for about 3 minutes, until they were nice and fluffy, like this:

Next step was to preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.

After that, I dumped the flour into the saucepan containing the butter/chocolate sauce, and mixed with a wooden spoon to get this batter:

Note: Do not be absent-minded like me. We used unsweetened baking chocolate, so if you think you’re going to lick the spoon after this and enjoy it, think again…

I then took a spatula and dumped the chocolate batter into the contents of the Kitchen-Aid mixing bowl. I then added some chocolate and peanut butter chips in for fun. I set the mixer on medium-low and mixed it all together for about a minute. It ended up looking like this:

Next, I sprayed my 9 x 13-inch baking pan with some non-stick baking spray and dumped the contents of the mixing bowl into the pan.

I placed the pan into the preheated oven and baked the brownies for 35 minutes. Here’s how they looked:

I let them cool for two hours, salivating and cursing the entire time – it’s worth it though, they slice much easier than if they just came out of the oven.

Tip for slicing: King Arthur recommended either using a plastic knife or a regular knife sprayed with cooking spray to cut the brownies into squares. I tried the “coat it with cooking spray” method and it sliced up nicely.

Here’s a sample of the squares after slicing them up:

They were so good, and actually stayed fresh for days!

If you decided to try this recipe out, let me know how it went for you! As always, happy baking!